In Response to Some of the Negative Media Surrounding the Women’s Red Hook Criterium

by poprocksian

To the people who think the Red Hook Criterium Brooklyn No.8 women’s race wasn’t the main event the night of April 25th, 2015; to those who think we came to model, rather than to race; to those who think we aren’t newsworthy, or that we are a footnote; to those people, who think we are an exhibibition rather than a competition, that we are static rather than kinetic, that we are less than our male counterparts:

Fuck you.

You’re wrong.

Over 50 women pit themselves against each other for a shot at the coveted title of Red Hook champion.

(via Red Hook Criterium.)

We put our pride, and our nerves, and our physical safety on the line.

(via Niki Nation.)

We pedaled our asses off.

(via Red Hook Criterium.)

We crashed and bled.

(Via Ben Duhac.)

Because we wanted it that bad.

(via Red Hook Criterium.)

You don’t get to ignore us, or belittle us, or take away our agency. For centuries, they told us strong women were freaks, that they were undesirable, and they attempted to breed the fire out of us in favor of our softer qualities. Half a century ago, they thought we’d become infertile– and therefore, useless, in their eyes– if we ran, or pedaled, or swam too hard. For years, we endured the message: women can’t play sports.

And in spite of it all, we clipped in and we pedaled hard. Under the floodlights at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal to a backdrop of hundreds of screaming, cheering people, we told you to take your message and shove it.

Maybe we’re not as fast, or as graceful, or even as many as the men yet, but we’re slowly closing the gap, one technical, brakeless lap at a time. Unlike the men, we’re not just battling each other in the race. We’re battling a history’s worth of no you can’t. We’re all battling our self-doubt.

13 Comments to “In Response to Some of the Negative Media Surrounding the Women’s Red Hook Criterium”

Just invite this bastards to ride a track bike and run just one lap, they will definitely shut there mouth. Love you girls ! And i am proud that the 2nd girl is French (yes, i am French to).
With all my support !

You girls are awesome! And an insperation!.
I hope to race one day, I’m a mother of two but I’m not going to let that keep that me from doing what I love! Women/mothers are bad asses! We don’t want to stay home!

Sad to see no one remembers, and they’re giving so much credit to some self-serving made-for-advertising event.

Actually in a way it’s pretty disappointing, all the cluless comments I’ve seen here and where this blog has been reposted. Trying to shame people about women in cycling and then the ones screaming loudest have no clue about the women before them.

Did you actually race or show up to the event? Because, if not, please refer to the above post.

Many of the athletes who participate in our current or former pro and elite level cyclists. I just finished a five day bro stage race prior to flying out to New York and avidly follow women’s cycling myself. So before you throw stones, you might want to look at who you are throwing stones at.

And even if I wasn’t, I’m still disappointed with all the big talk in the comments where this blog entry has been posted–and the angriest posters having no clue who these world famous, endless magazine spread female racers are/were.

I mean getting all Girl Power!! and not knowing who Missy the Missle is? All the drama with Paola hurting women’s cycling???

Every gung ho guy cyclist has at least has heard of Eddy Merckx, even if he couldn’t tell you a single thing about him.

I’ve actually wrote about this before in an earlier post. While one of the best ways to remedy the issue is education from within (in my opinion), part of the reason we dont remember our cycling foremothers is because they were less featured. (We don’t have bikes named after Carpenter or Longo, for example.) It’s hard to educate yourself on a topic where you dont know where to start.

It’s rad you’re a veteran of the cycling scene, but I don’t necessarily agree with tearing down the younger generation because they have their own heroes. I’m sure some of the new athletes come off as clueless, but condemning them for it is what causes so many people to criticize sanctioned racing, and especially USAC events as stale and hard-to-approach. I shifted my focus from USAC to unsanctioned racing when I realized Cinelli Chrome was going to take better care of me than pretty much any women’s domestic trade team I could practically be on, and that i would be training, traveling and competing for the same prizes as my male counterparts without some major struggle.

Anyway, I really invite you to come attend an RHC to see what all the fuss is about, because I think you would find yourself surprised at how developed and competitive the scene is.

I was at RHC this weekend and I cheered loudest during the women’s final (didn’t make it to the qualifiers). Maybe I don’t know all about the women who preceded me and helped women’s cycling get to where it is today. Doesn’t mean I can’t yell and bang my cow bell in support of my peers who are doing great things today, and that I can’t be proud as hell of the fact that these badasses whizzing past me are women.
Anyway, congrats! 🙂 The women’s race was definitely the main event for me.